This one has three errors: The second sentence is compound and requires a comma, and the end of that sentence should have a period, not a pathetic two-dot excuse for an ellipsis. Then there’s the subtle but wonky change in tense from past to present.

Before you died, you agreed to donate your body for medical research.

This morning, you woke up in an unfamiliar room, and the last thing you remembered was dying.

If you don’t want to make the whole thing past-tense, write the second sentence like so: This morning, you wake up in an unfamiliar room, and the last thing you remember is dying.

(Today — you’re gonna laugh — WordPress’ spell checker says tense is not a word. It wants me to change that word to tents, making the sentence read, Then there’s that subtle but wonky change in tents from past to present. Yeah, that makes soooo much more sense. *rolls eyes*)

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About Thomas Weaver

I’m a writer and editor who got into professional editing almost by accident years ago when a friend from university needed someone to copyedit his screenplay about giant stompy robots (mecha). Having discovered that I greatly enjoy this kind of work, I’ve been putting my uncanny knack for grammar and punctuation, along with an eclectic mental collection of facts, to good use ever since as a Wielder of the Red Pen of Doom.
I'm physically disabled, and for the past several years, I’ve lived with my smugly good-looking twin Paul, who writes military science fiction and refuses to talk about his military service because he can’t. Sometimes Paul and I collaborate on stories, and sometimes I just edit whatever he writes. It's worked out rather well so far.
My list of non-writing-related jobs from the past includes librarian, art model, high school teacher, science lab gofer… Although I have no spouse or offspring to tell you about, I do have six cats. (The preferred term is "Insane Cat Gentleman.") I currently spend my time blogging, reading, editing, and fending off cats who like my desk better than my twin’s.

2 Responses to Writing Glitch #352

Does a period go inside a quotation mark when it is around the last word in a sentence. Example: He was in “tents.” Does the same hold true for question marks and exclamation points? Example: Was he in “tents?” Wow, was he in “tents!”